UpLift Media

A normal traffic accident is scary enough. But add high speeds, a bridge over water, and an ejected baby into the mix and you have a scene straight out of a horror movie. A multi-car collision occurred on the Ocean City, Maryland bridge leaving a pickup truck (pictured below) turned on its side hanging over the edge. The velocity of the impact caused an 18 month old little girl to eject from the vehicle and into the water. Jonathan Bowers, a fellow motorist on the bridge, witnessed the jaw dropping event and quickly went to the railing to look into the bay below. Upon doing so he recalled, "when I looked over, I saw the car seat, some other items, and about six feet away was a little girl. She was on her back, completely floating, head above water, arms moving and legs kicking."  Realizing her ability to stay afloat would not last long Jonathan jumped over the railing plunging two stories down into the bay waters, swimming after the child. Upon retrieving the young one, Mr. B...

     USA Swim Coach, Adrea Fuentez was thankfully paying close attention as artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez, just 25 years of age, suddenly began sinking just after completing her performance at the World Aquatics Championships. Upon witnessing this strange behavior and no life guard reaction, coach Fuentez dove headfirst, fully clothed into the water to retrieve and ultimately save the swimmers life. Upon surfacing the athlete was not breathing so the coach began massaging Alvarez's jaw to make her dispense the water in her mouth. Thankfully this technique worked and the swimmer regained her composure.       Experts agree that the athlete most likely suffered from a shallow water blackout which can be triggered by hyperventilation. Professor Mike Tipton from the University of Portsmouth states, "it only takes a very small volume of water (one or two breaths) to cross the lethal does for drowning so the action of the coach was life-saving!"   ...